No space missions have been launched for a very long time. Supposedly because people lost interest. The pretextes were lies... When the leaders of our world decide to get a special rock from the moon, they make a lottery out of it, rewarding three teenagers by sending them for 172 hours to the moon with real astronauts. Mia, Midori and Antoine are the winners... or are they really ? When they get on the moon, they discover the real reason why no one has been sent for so many years... A terrifying reason... And it’s too late for them to go back.

Review:

This is a very unusual book... It’s kind of rare for a book designed for teenagers, yet the ones who look for fear and chills will love it! By a Norwegian writer, this book is divided in three very differents parts, which might be unsettling. The first part introduces each character as a novel would. We learn to get to know Mia, Midori and Antoine. The second part tells everything about the space travel, and the fans will love it. I know I took a lot of pleasure in it. It’s writen as if the journey to the moon could happen tomorrow. And the last part... The horror ! Almost as good as Stephen King’s! The part is terrifying! We love trembling through it all and we are sorry it doesn’t go for a bit longer. Let’s wait to read other books of this writer, who isn’t for everyone…

After the murder of her father – who was a chemist – Jill Jekel realises that he spent all of her college monney. Tristan Hyde, son of a psychiatrist whose wife is missing, is a teenager suffering from blackouts and flushes of aggressivity. Aside from their name, these two have a gift: they excel at chemistry. When a contest might allow Jill to win a scholarship, they combine their skills and use the formulas of the real Dr. Jekyl, allegedly Jill’s ancestor. But before he died, Tristan’s grandfather told him about the curse set upon his family... And when feelings begin to spurt between the two teenagers, the infamous Dr. Jeckyl’s potion might turn out to be very dangerous...

Review:

I read it in less than a day! This book is for young adults buyt suited me rather well. Taking the myth of Dr. Jeckyl and Mister Hyde was a great idea and immediatly spoke to me. The potion is going to help Jill to become more balanced and confident. Tristan is endearing because he’s just a boy who’s looking for a solution to his problem. We can actualy see him fight against his fate to stay with Jill. The writing is great and the chapters quite small which always give you the need to turn the next page. Some parts are rather obvious but the characters and their love story is well writen! The alternate narration between Jill and Tristan is interesting. In a nutshell, it’s great!

The Empyrean is a ship heading for a new Earth. Waverly is a strong and smart teenager who lives in it. And so does Kieran, her boyfriend, and future captain of the ship. They know that in this time of need, they’ll have to give children to the human race... Their life is shaken when another ship, the New Orizon (sent few years sooner for the same goal) attacks them. During the fight, the surviving adults are stuck in a contaminated area of the Empyrean and the girls are captured under false pretext. As for the boyes, they are left to decide the fate of the Empyrean. Kieran tries to save the ship, despite Seth’s efforts to take control. But Kieran’s final objective is to find Waverly whose life has became much harder...

Review:

“Glow”’s cover is gorgeous, and its story is great. Even though it’s designed for a young audience, the originality of the book conquered me ! (I read it in a day) The story reminded me of “Gone” for the adultless part, and of “Remnants” for the wandering in space. The children’s adventures are great, with a main character who is really endearing and mature. The others are darker. We don’t really know where is the politically correct, given the circumstances of the characters’s life aboard. The author talks about sex, religion, and manipulation which are all hard subjects and mixes it all up to come up with an interesting storyline. Very dynamic. I can’t wait to read the sequel: “Spark”!

When Sam looks up in his classroom, his teacher is gone. After he found Astrid “The little genius” and his friend Quinn, the teenagers have to face the truth: all people above 15 years old have vanished from the city. The Zone, whose center is the nuclear reactor, is surrounded by a barrier that no one can cross. The town becomes a bubble cut off from the rest of the world. No more grown ups, and some weird powers seem to appear among the kids. They begin to divide into groups, and the kids from a private school become agressive... Sam has also a secret... And he realises that he’s not the only one. Pete, Astrid’s autistic younger brother has a big connection with what happened. Friendships are tested, and tensions grow. But the main worry is: what happens when you turn fifteen?

Review:

Gone is writer by Michael Grant, the husband of Katherine Applegate (writer of the great Animorphs, Everworld, Remnants). Immediate best seller, Gone is great from the beginning until the end. After a few dozens of pages, I found myself feeling close to some of the kids (which might have been hard, since I’m no longer a child!). The story is great and we are eager to learn the truth. No wonder it was a hit with the teenagers! The characters are complex, even though they seem quite smart for kids. The truth is raw: we find anorexia, cowardice, autism. It never gets boring: the first words are describing the moment where every adult went missing. One weird thing happened: the animal mutations... Where is the explanation ? (same problem in Remnants, actually). But the others explanations were great and quite logical. Now I want to know where all these powers came from ! Let’s hope the other five books of the series are as good as this one!

At last, Annabeth and Percy find each other, but things don’t go as well between Romans and Greeks. Leo who fired up the Argo II, got posessed by a demon and shot on the Roman camp, creating a conflict between the two groups of demigods. The seven kids of the prophecy have to flee the camp to go look for Nico Di Angelo, who’s beeing kept at the brink of death by Gaia’s giants. All the Gods live terrible times while their Roman et Greek personas collide, but it’s for Athena/Minerva that times are the toughest! A schizophrenic episode will draw her to push Annabet (her daughter) to find the statue of Athena which has been lost for thousands of years. She’s the only one who can unite the two types of demigods. The Argo II will have to cross the Atlantic in order to get to the Mediterranean, the path leading to Rome...

Review:

It doesn’t work anymore. This book made me feel exactly like the first of the “heroes of olympus” collection : disappointed. Those kids are supposed to have grown from the story of “Percy Jackson”, but instead it looks like they all got dumber ! The IQs have dropped ! The stories sometimes lack logic, and the storyline is definitely deprived of structure and cohesion. It looks like a Brussolo novel, where anything can happen at anytime, and there’s no rule. Which could be fine, but it’s simply not what Riordan has shown us until now... The main characters are caricatures of teenagers led by their hormones (Piper is a girlfriend perfectly insecure!). Only the relationship between Annabeth and Percy goes according to plan, giving the long time fans satisfaction. The ending is very touching. This is, by the way, the only reason I’ll keep reading those books. Heroes of Olympus is, unfortunately, far less amazing than Percy Jackson. We can’t really identify to the characters, even if the idea of multiple narrators is awesome ! (kind like in animorphs). The “fight” between Percy and Jason is to small to be noticed. As to Leo’s great great... grand father, it’s just too far fetched ! Therefore, Heroes of Olympus is destined to an audience younger, and doesn’t keep up to Percy Jackson’s expectations !